A Sensory Tour Around The World
Given that we’ve dedicated this issue to all things sensory, we thought we’d look further afield and share our list of some of the most incredible olfactory experiences around the world. From a cassava leaf harvest in Zanzibar to a street of dried seafood vendors in Kowloon, we’ve considered the kinds of travel experiences that might appeal to the sensorial adventurous among us.
We’ve also arranged these experiences from least to most challenging on the nose and taste buds. Read on, and if you’re anything like us, you’ll be adding some of these to your bucket list.
Join a Spice Tour in Zanzibar
Zanzibar has a rich history in the spice trade, its roots dating back to ancient times when merchants worldwide undertook maritime voyages to East Africa. Finding a richness of exotic spices, these traders established flourishing networks with Swahili coastal settlements such as Zanzibar.
Today, you can join various spice tours across the archipelago, each with its own bent. Some go deeply into Zanzibar’s spice history or give you a view of its active export market. Others are walking spice tours or even take you horseback riding.
Naturally, some of them are as touristy as you’d expect, but this tour, run by locals, sees you harvesting and cooking spices, too.
Visit the Women's Co-Operative Spice Market in Fort Kochi (Cochin), India
As the spice capital of the world, it’s no great surprise that this exercise would take us to Kochi, India. There’s certainly no shortage of incredible spice markets and bazaars throughout the region, but we’re headed to a place known for its exquisite spice mixes: the Women's Co-Operative Spice Market in Fort Kochi (Cochin).
This is an all-around sensory immersion with heightened sight, taste, smell, touch and sound.
Meander through colourful towers of locally grown spices: cloves, cardamom, turmeric and freshly harvested peppercorns (Kerala pepper is famously known as “black gold”) and the bustle of people drying, sorting, packing and arranging their wares. In the historic Mattancherry district, you’ll find the Women’s Co-Operative Spice Market, where you can browse walls of beautifully arranged herbs and spices while sipping fragrant tea.
Take Part in an Archie Rose Blending Session
Back home at our Rosebery Distillery, you can experience sensory immersion by becoming a spirits blender for the day in our Blend Your Own Whisky orBlend Your Own Gin classes. In these classes, we share our knowledge of the history of blending and guide you in blending your very own spirits to take home.
For gin, you’ll do your own sensory testing of a range of our individual botanical distillates, and for whisky, learn provenance and be guided on how to discern your own preferences in whisky taste before you’re taken through a nose and taste test of a range of whiskies that will be used to blend with the Archie Rose base. The complexity of flavours may surprise you, but you’ll be in good hands with our expert teachers.
Visit Camus for a Cognac ‘Master Blender Session'
This one’s an exceptional experience that our very own Fish (David Fisher) has personally enjoyed. Camus Cognac is a brand of cognac produced since 1863 by five generations of the Camus family and is considered one of the “big four” of Cognac in France.
From their incredible maturation warehouse and cellar, they run Camus Master Blender workshops, where under the tutelage of the expert blenders, you can become a Master Blender and create your own CAMUS XO Cognac, an intensely aromatic cognac born from the culmination of advanced distillation and heritage finishing and blending techniques.
While this experience may sound intimidating, it’s actually perfect for a novice. There are only five or so blending elements to use, so it can be pretty straightforward. The cellar and surroundings are also stunning, and all in all, it feels like quite a luxury experience.
Scotch Whisky at a Cadenhead’s Blending Session
Cadenhead is Scotland's oldest independent bottler and their whisky is as rare as it is exclusive, with a minimal allocation worldwide. However, Cadenhead’s Blending Lab in Campbeltown, Scotland, opens the doors to offer a unique blending experience. Create your own blended malt or blended scotch in one of their Cadenhead’s Creation - Blending Sessions by mixing a combination of the eight Cadenhead’s Scotch whiskies provided from a selection of different cask types. It’s not a typical blending session – it will be carried out without indicating what each whisky is. It's pretty novel because you can’t be swayed by knowing what the liquid is. You do it by taste only. This one’s for all the purists out there.
ISC Tour on the Bourbon Trail, Kentucky, USA
If you ever find yourself along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, you have a unique opportunity to see what most don’t—the cooperage—with ISC Barrels run Kentucky Cooperage Tour. A few tour types are available, and each one goes into the science behind how the flavours are created. Join one to learn how they craft white oak barrels, watch on as the coopers service used bourbon barrels, or do the ‘Life of A Barrel’ Tour and visit both Kentucky Cooperage and Kentucky Bourbon Barrel South to understand the life of a barrel from individual oak staves to new, charred barrels, all the way to high quality, ready-for-filling used barrels.
We’re rating this one as challenging due to the nuances of the wood fragrance family, which most of us are likely not very familiar with.
Browse the traditional markets of Kowloon, Hong Kong
The most sensorially challenging experience on our list is a trip to the vibrant food markets of Kowloon, Hong Kong. Guided by the cardinal rule of food tourism: go where the locals go, we recommend exploring the Yau Ma Tei fruit market and the nearby dried seafood lane. Both are seriously demanding of the senses, and you’ll be challenged by endless new scents and tastes that strike the senses in full force. Expect your sensory world to expand from piquant spices to rare fruits and strange dried treasures from the deep. A trip to these markets is also a trip into Hong Kong's culinary heart, which is rich in cultural heritage and traditions.